LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 969, 21 March 1911, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

During a novice boxing competition at the National Sporting Club, London, Tom Dovey, a Londoner, fell in the third round, before a blow had been struck, and died from heart failure. Mr W. Archer Redmond, son of the Irish leader, Mr Hazeltou (Commoner), and Mr J, T. Donovan are the delegates visiting Australasia to appeal for the Irish Parliamentary fund. They have sailed in the steamer Rotorua. On his return to Sydney from abroad a few days ago the Hon, Dugald Thomson, a well-known Australian politician, related an incident that occurred in the Dominion Parliament House at Ottawa, where, he remarked, it might be expected that knowledge of the Empire should exist. “An intelligent elderly attendant had shown me through,” Mr Thomson said. “He evidently concluded from some remarks of mine that I knew something of the inside of Parliaments. On my leaving he asked me, ‘ Are you a member of the British Columbian Parliament? ’ I replied, ‘No ; I come from Australia.’ He became thoughtful, and at last said, doubtfully, ‘Australia; isn’t it under the United States flag ? ’ When I told him it was as much or more British than and about as large, he muttered ‘ Oh, I didn’t know. I thought it belonged to the United States. I retired crestfallen.”

for watch, clock or jewellery -epairs go to Paukhs, the jeweller, Main Street.

We are informed that the local band is moribund. A dog cart, horse and harness are advertised for sale either in one lot or separately. Mr M. R. Varnham, the wellknown Masterton architect, is on a brief visit to Foxtou.

Two men were • convicted at Timaru on Saturday, of playing two-up and fined £3 each or 14 days’ imprisonment. There are still a large number of houses occupied at the seaside and we are informed the vacant ones are taken up for Easter.

Mr F. Gabites advertises a few prices elsewhere in this issue which it will pay housewives to take notice of. The Rev Father Bowe, of Carterton, met with a serious accident last week. He was thrown from his horse and kicked. His injuries are not serious.

So great is the demand for berths by persons going Home that 120 passengers were crowded out of the last two boats leaving Wellington for Sydney. A feature of the Cummins mission now being held in the Presbyterian Church, is the children’s service to be held every afternoon at 3 p.m. These services were particularly well attended on Sunday and yesterday afternoon. A meeting of ratepayers of the Moutoa Drainage District interested in the erection of a floodgate in the embankment at Duck Creek, is convened by Mr B. G. Gower lor Thursday evening next, at 7.45 o’clock, in the Moutoa Drainage Board’s office. Speaking at Wellington on Sunday, the Rev Monseigneur Fowler said he was astonished that there were people who were Catholics sending their children to State schools. “In the United States,” said Monseigneur Fowler, “we do not call these people Catholics.” Messrs Newth and Carter notify by advertisement that on account of the dry weather they have been forced, in common with milk vendors, in other towns to increase the price of milk to fourpence per quart as from April Ist. Only the best of milk will be supplied to customers and will be delivered in any quantity during winter or summer.

Gambling on a colossal scale still goes on in Loudon. It is currently reported in the clubs that on a recent occasion three rubbers of bridge were played, with the result that no less a sum than £43,200 changed hands. The players were millionaires from the other side of the Atlantic, and the scene of the game a wellknown hotel much frequented by American visitors to Great Britain.

The Maoris feel very proud of the fact that a compatriot of theirs is at the head of the Dominion just now. “Py korry,” said a patriarch at Parihaka on Saturday, “Hemi Karra, he ti big rangitira —he petter ti pakeha or ti Maori ; he ti premier. Kapai he come Parihaka. Hi pigger rangitira Te Whiti or Tohu, Kapai Hemi Karra !” And then the venerable warrior let himself go and startled the visitors by uttering a warwhoop.—Taranaki News. To “ blow one’s own trumpet ” is generally to be deprecated, but there are occasions when such a thing is not only justified, but absolutely necessary. For instance, in Messrs Collinson and Cunninghame’s announcement they make the statement that their values are unsurpassed in New Zealand. By way of proof, they quote some money saving prices in Pillow Slips, hemstitched and embroidered. The values are likely to appeal to all housewives. The course of justice in the old days was touched on by the Rev. James Wilson in a lecture at Christchurch. A magistrate who w;is rather irritable was conducting a case in Akaroa. The defendant was pleading his cause when the magistrate interrupted him, “ Didn’t you win your last case ?” he asked. “Yes, your Worship,” replied the defendant. “ Then sit down, sir,” roared the magistrate ; “ how do you expect to win every time ? Sit down and give someone else a chance.” On Friday morning (says the Dominion’s Masterton correspondent) Messrs E. S. Lancaster and G. L. Adkin, of Levin, in company with Mr H. T. Thompson, of Wellington, arrived in Masterton after an eight days’ exploration tour of the Tararua Ranges. They proceeded along the Ohau river to the summit, and thence descended into Mangahao Valley, following the ranges and peaks until they reached Mount Holdsworth. The journey is said to have been full of interest, the view obtainable from some of the peak-tops being magnificent. The party discovered no trace of the huia, although they found other forms of mountain fauna in abundance.

His Worship the Mayor (G. H. ’Stiles, Esq.) and Crs Coley, Gibbs, Rimmer and Speirs ■ were present at a meeting ot the Works Committee of the Bcro-gh Council, held yesterday afternoon, to inspect Howau and Baker Streets. Messrs W. S. Carter and R. J. Thompson were present and made requests in reference to the improvement of the streets. It was decided on the motion of Cr Rimmer, seconded by Cr Gibbs, that Baker and Howau Streets be trimmed, stones broken and clayed. It was also decided on the motion of Cr Coley, seconded by Cr Speirs, that Baker Street junction to Mr W. Carter’s gate be formed through cutting, and that the cutting be fasciued and fenced. The Town Clerk was instructed to have the windmill and water trough repaired.

A girl for domestic work is advertised for. The vicar’s Bible class for boys will be held in All Saints’ Church on Wednesday at a quarter to 7 instead ot Tuesday at the vicarage. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Moutoa Drainage Board will be held on Monday, March 27th at 7.45 p.m.

On our fourth page to-day will be found the following reading matter :—“Marry and Live Long,” “An Interrupted Wedding,” and “The Carnegie Institute.”

The Rev. Mr Coatsworth conducted his first service at the Foxtou Methodist Church on Sunday evening and created a very favourable impression upon his hearers. Mr Thomas Blatchford, chief warder at the Terrace Gaol, Wellington, died yesterday after a short illness, aged sixty-three years.

The directors of the Bank of New Zealand have accepted a tender for the erection of bank premises at Pougaroa. The building will be of two stories, and is estimated to cost Mr P. Hopkins advertises that he is prepared to undertake the making of all kinds of furniture, either at his workshop, Main Street, or at his customers’ homes. See advertisement for a few quotations.

The Taumarunui paper says;— “ A Taumarunui man wished to travel by the 7.25 south train the other morning. He just missed it, but he jumped on his bike and rode to Mauunui, where he had to wait twenty minutes till the train came up. There was no breakdown or any other unusual circumstance.”

The Old Boys of the Wanganui Collegiate School, who are presenting a chapel to that institution, have accepted the tender of Mr Meuli (Wanganui) at something over The foundationstone will be laid on Easter Sunday, when a large gathering is expected from all parts of the Dominion.

A girl at Bendigo, charged with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place, appeared in Court dressed in male clothing. For three months she had posed as a boy, and had worked at various employments, serving for a time as a policeman’s assistant. The court decided to give her another chance, on condition that she assumed proper clothing.

At the Woodville Court on Thursday last, apropos of a blackberry case, Mr G. H. Smith, solicitor, informed the press that at both Pongaroa and Pahiatua Horticultural Shows first and second prizes were given for “Blackberries grown in the district.” In each case both the prizes were annexed by an exhibitor who gathered the prize berries on the roadside.

The mission of Mr and Mrs Gumming, the Scottish evangelists, opened successfully at the Presbyteriau Church on Sunday, there being large attendances at all the services. Mr Gumming is an effective speaker, with a humorous quality that puts him on good terms with his hearers. He is also a singer of some merit, and his wife is the possessor of a strong alto voice. Their duets made a very favourable impression, and led by the tnissioners the congregation sang the “ Alexander ” hymns with great spirit. Before the fortnight expires Mr and Mrs Gumming should have reason to be gratified with the results attending their visit to Foxton.

A drastic measure to prevent the marriage of the unfit is before the Legislature of Colorado (writes a San Francisco correspondent), It has the support of the four women members ofthe General Assembly. It provides that candidates for mkrriage must submit to physical and medical tests. It denies the right of marriage to persons afflicted with tuberculosis or other constitutional communicable diseases. Confirmed drunkards and users of drugs are also barred; so are people engaged in infamous callings. The Bill also proposes 10 prohibit the marriage of white people with Orientals. The same restriction is the subject of legislation submitted in the States of Washington and Nevada, California and some other Western States already prohibit EuroAslau marriages.

Recently Mr George Smart, while going through the bush on his section in the Kiritehere (says the King Country Chronicle), came suddenly on what he thought to be a strangely shaped log of wood lying across the path. He investigated the fern-covered mass and found it to be, to his astonishment, the hull of a nearly finished Maori canoe, about forty feel long, burned out of a single giant tree. Ferns, mosses, humus and the accumulation of generations of forest rubbish were cleaned away with the slashers, and a canoe of totara, perfect with the exception of a little rot on the outside, lay revealed. The makers of this ancient dug-out must have been disturbed in their work—for they left it unfinished —probably by some marauding war party from down the coast —Taranaki, may be. That the remains are very old is easily proven by the charred appearance of the inside ot the canoe, which, if appearances tell truly, was burned and dubbed into Maori shape by those quaint litlle Maori adzes which are picked up so ollen. The nearest floatv\ -tier is the sea— a mile distant, and the old workers of wood and stoue would have to negotiate a high ridge before reaching their destination—the sea.

It was iu a railway carriage. A great altercation was proceeding between two Maori ladies, evidently mother and daughter. The latter was chewing something, and the old lady looked envious. Suddenly the younger extracted the stuff she was chewing —it looked like chewing gum—and threw It over to the old wahine, who grabbed at it as if it had been a piece of prehistoric shark, and chewed in quiet content for the remainder of the journey. A boy aged about six years arrived in Wellington by the train from Dannevirke on Saturday evening, and as there was nobody to meet him and he did not seem to know where to go, he was taken into custody by a constable and taken to the Lambtou quay police station. He gave his name as Charlie O’Leary, and stated that he had come to Wellington to visit “ Uncle Jim.” He had is 2d in his possession. He stayed at the police station over-night, and evinced considerable interest in the electric trams, asking the keeper of the watch house where they went, what it cost to ride on them, etc. He explored the police station, and accompanied the watch house keeper when he visited the cells. About midday the boy disappeared. Subsequently it was reported that the youngster had boarded yesterday morning’s New Plymouth express, on which he was discovered by the guard in a lavatory when the train was near Manakau. He was, presumably, still looking for “ Uncle Jim,” but the guard handed him over to Constable Mahoney, who was travelling by the same train and who undertook to see him safely back to his guardian at Makotuku.